Season-ticket holder sues Chargers, city over incident

A Chargers season-ticket holder has sued the team and the city of San Diego in Superior Court, alleging he was punched in the face by a fan whom the Chargers and city failed to rein in despite complaints from him and others.

The ticket holder, Patrick Cronin, also filed suit last week against his alleged attacker, Donald Eugene Etheridge, an English teacher at Mission Vista High in Vista.

The suit comes three years after the Chargers instituted a fans' code of conduct. Last year, the Chargers and other National Football League teams announced a renewed effort to crack down on obnoxious behavior at games.

The Chargers said they revoked the season tickets of 700 fans who violated the code in 2007, 400 in 2008 and 40 this year. Etheridge was not one of them.

Etheridge said yesterday it was Cronin who was agitating other fans in their section by selling his tickets to fans from the opposing team.

“It does cause strife when somebody is a season-ticket holder and is supposed to be supporting the hometown team but keeps selling tickets to other fans because they are willing to pay more,” Etheridge said.

Cronin is seeking damages from the incident that happened at city-owned Qualcomm Stadium Sept. 30, 2007. His suit says Etheridge was using verbally abusive language and challenged Cronin to a fight. When Cronin refused, the suit states Etheridge struck Cronin with his fist, causing an eyebrow cut that required stitches.

“There have been many complaints about this individual (Etheridge) in the past, not just from Mr. Cronin, but from others around him, and nobody did anything about it,” said Ted Khalaf, Cronin's attorney.

“It was neglected, to the point where people with season tickets stopped going to games because of this individual. My client has stopped going because of this individual.”

Etheridge disputed that and noted that he was not prosecuted after being arrested in connection with the incident.

The Chargers declined comment, saying it wasn't appropriate to comment on an ongoing legal proceeding.

Khalaf said the suit is being filed two years after the incident to preserve his client's right to sue before it expired under the two-year statute of limitations.